


Day and Night, Dragonborn and Listener, Brother and Sister

by beautifullybarbaric



Series: Blood and Covenant [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Blood, Character Death, Gore, Multi, Murder, Stabbing, Unreliable Narrator, Violence, no beta we die like men, uh i keep changing the plot help, weird obsession with plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-12
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-06-14 21:19:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15397674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beautifullybarbaric/pseuds/beautifullybarbaric
Summary: In the wagon cart there were five people.A king-slayer was one, with his stoic silence and cold eyes.A thief was another, he shook with terror and begged for his life.A soldier was a third, he accepted his fate with honor.And the final two were siblings and children. The eldest bore the heart of a dragon, and the latter harbored something darker.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Void's Daughter](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11198742) by [LeilaSecretSmith (orphan_account)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/LeilaSecretSmith). 



> Yes, this story IS based off of another author's. You can find the link in the story description. 
> 
> Secondly, I got the names Fella and Filion from the Latin words Fel and Filius. Fel translates to gall, poison, bile, bitterness, and acrimony. Filius is son.

Rattle.

 

Cli-thunk.

 

Rattle.

 

Voices crowed and rasped. The blonde was spitting mad. Sizing up her brother. Fella pushed their argument to the back of her mind. 

 

Cri-thunk. Rattle.

 

The cart gave a jolt as the horse stumbled, a minor spurt of pain tapping curiously when her back thunked against the wood.

 

Rattle. Cli-thunk.

 

The Imperial told the arguing man and boy to be silent. She focused, and his voice was muffled by the air, staticy and hushed, before it too- Fella zoned out.

 

Cril-Thunk. Stomp. Rattle.

 

Even the uneven, simple beat of the worn wagon was beginning to get on her nerves. Fella was itching to scream, or lash out. She preferred silence. Silence meant she was being left alone to her studies. Silence meant an arrow piercing the heart of a deer or hare she had stalked. Chaos like this would only lead to a spilled tonic or toxin, or spooked game.

 

Her brother swung at the Stormcloak with his bound hands. 

 

Well he was going to drive her mad. He was going to get them both in trouble. Why couldn't she be left to her work? Where were her packs? 

 

Fella turned away from him, she didn't want to be grouped in when he was inevitably punished. Instead, she focused her eyes on the foliage. Mentally cataloguing anything of alchemical value. 

 

_Monsflore rubrum. Monsflore purpura. Monsflore caeruleum._

The three sisters, mountain flowers. Basic, cheap, and most importantly- abundant. 

 

Something from the genus  _Casias._ Lavender. She couldn't tell which species. She'd need to examine the interior of the flowers. A mistake between  _Casias Exhauriantis_ and  _Casias Advocabidis_ could give the opposite intended effect. That was fun for nobody. 

 

The fields were gone. Replaced by worn stone walls and parents that pulled their children away, guiding them tenderly inside. Some were not much older than her, some younger. Fella payed it no mind. 

 

 

Filion straightened. He looked worried.

 

 

Filion looked like a Nord, a young Nord child. They would listen to him. Both of them were half-breeds, but Fella looked too much like an elf to be given a second glance. 

 

So she supposed he would explain to the soldiers, that they were not rebels. In fact, they were here to stay with their aunt, a battlemage for the Imperial army. After their parents died in a tragic illness. Just tragic! In fact, sir. We have our writ of passage with our bags. Could be so kind as to-

 

Oh gods, just  _imagining_ the conversation made her want to barf. Showy, fancy Filion. Wearing fine clothes and impressing their merchant parent's colleagues with his wit and charm. A tip of his cap and a good day sir! What a good day indeed! 

 

Meanwhile, the younger sibling would be holed up in her chambers, or hunting in the woods behind their home. 

 

Not proper! Not ladylike! Her bosmer mother would cry, before tossing her off to a house servant. Fella supposed that Filion was always meant to take over the family business. She would take up professional alchemy. Her parents would be displeased, but she wouldn't care. More books, more plants, and more hunting and gathering. Pleasant. Easy. But that was gone now, that future. Tossed to the wind, along with the mingled ashes.

 

Oh- she and Filion were on the ground now. Her mind had wandered again. Her mother would be angry. Filion was talking to the General. Fella kept zoning them out. Meek, neat, and proper. Not interrupting. 

 

She lifted her hands forward when a man presented her with an iron blade. The leather binds crumpled to the ground. 

 

Filion walked away, and she followed. 

 

Fella remained in her trance until her simple, leather bags were passed to her. And there, in the lower right. Tools for collecting ingredients. There on the upper left. Salves and oils she had brewed herself, for everyday aches and ills. Finally, her safety and final lifeline. A slender longbow. The wood well kept. The string taunt. Her life, all that mattered to her, was slung over her shoulder and back.

 

And then there was a scream.


	2. Chapter 2

The ground shook, like a great gong struck with a mallet. The screams grew only louder. Mingling with an inhuman screech that made her hackles rise and the base instinct of  _run_ thump in her veins. 

 

She tightened her grip on the bow, stummbling as the whole keep shook. The Imperial Soldier scrammbled for the door, struggling stay upright.

 

Filion looked.... Curiously unfazed. His eyes though, they had a blankness to them. His pupils had shrunk down, and their amber shine- the only attribute he had that mirrored their half-elf status. Seemed a tad bit...

 

Harsher.

 

They were still reminiscent of a fire, but no longer were they the flame that a camping mercenary would cling to. No longer were they like the warmth and light that warded off cold and predators alike. But they were dangerous. Not the cowering creature, but the wolf itself. A sabrecat stalking a deer. An arrow to a bowstring. Blood. And Danger.

 

The door slammed shut again, the soldier coughed. Smoke billowed out behind him. 

 

The bow was stiff and warm. Her arrows neat and tidy. Who was attacking the fort? Stormcloaks? 

 

The screech sounded again. 

 

"Kids, you need to stay calm." He was talking slowly. Like Filion and herself were young, still toddlers. It made Fella want to shoot herself in the foot. "We need to evacuate the keep, alright?" 

 

Oh. That was... Unusual. Perhaps this force was more than the Empire could handle. The troops at Helgan numbered small, after all. 

 

Filion nodded agreement at the soldier. Perfect, polite Filion. It made Fella reconsider not shooting herself in the foot. 

 

The man started to walk down the passage. Voices echoed through the stony halls. Slowly, the man drew his blade. 

 

Fella's pale eyes caught blue.  _Stormcloaks._

 

Fella counted  _one, two, three, four_ men.

 

They were outnumbered. Shit. 

 

The Imperial lunged at a Stormcloak, the woman's legs giving out from under her as her throat was split open. 

 

Fella notched an arrow. She had never fought a human before, but how different could it be? Humans had throats, eyes, and hearts. Just like any prey. Only this prey had bigger, more dangerous claws and teeth. And they had armoured hide. 

 

Filion ran forwards. Drawing his shortsword. He swung at a Warhammer-bearing man. The man let out a roar of pain as he wrentched around. 

 

Fella lifted the bow up to eye level.

 

He swung his weapon, her brother scrammbling to get out of the way. In doing so, he tripped over the shaft of the hammer.

 

Fella pulled back the string.

 

The man turned to her brother. He raised an arm in a feeble attempt to block.

 

* * *

_The deer lifted it's head, tail twitching. Fella's hand was shaky, the powerful drawback making her 6 year old arm tremble._

 

_The house servant Ralanadis, more family to her than her blood was, crouched beside her. His own bow sat loosely in his lap, strung, but not yet pulled back._

 

_Fella knew it the moment her arrow loosed. This would be the day, her first kill. The first blood she spilled._

* * *

The arrow sunk into the man's eye with a soft  _squelsh._ He stummbled backwards from the force of the shot, and backwards he fell. His limp body crumpling to the worn, smooth stone. 

 

One would expect to feel ill, at talking a human life. One would expect to feel remorse, or guilt. But not Fella. All she felt was the calm, proud satisfaction of a clean kill.


	3. Chapter 3

Their new home was a rather far walk from the neighbors.

 

The nearest person was the farmer, Mr. Bjarke One-Eye. A retired legionnaire. And he was ten minute walk away. The next house was nearly an hour, on horseback.

 

Everything felt so strange. The hard-packed tundra earth was so much harsher than the soft needle-bedded forests of home. There was no cover for a hunter.

 

Mr. One-Eye seemed nice enough. He had given her a piece of taffy. He'd offered one to Filion too, but he had declined. Stating that a _man_ of sixteen _winters_ couldn't possibly have candy. And, apparently, in Skyrim sixteen was the age of adulthood. Instead of the eighteen back home. That meant Filion was to be her legal guardian. Fella had to wait three more years until she too could be considered an adult.

 

 _No._ She thought, _Five more. When Filion turns eighteen, he's heading home. And taking me with him._

 

Speaking of which, Filion had run off to do something or other for the Jarl. And left her behind at their father's family house. Which, despite being unoccupied for the past seventeen years or so, was in remarkably good shape. She thanked the Nordic architecture for that. She didn't know when he'd be back. But after a while of sitting on the front porch, chores done, and nothing better to do but wait. She saw it.

 

A dragon,

 

If the one from Helgen was black as charred wood, then this one was the ash. It's slender form curled around a tower in the distance. Like a plume of smoke. And soon, fire clawed the stone walls.

 

Fella watched it, she was too far away for it to pose a threat. So she watched, eventually the thing flew off. She could barely pick out the form of a man in each of it's talons.

 

She stayed to watch the tower burn. So Fella wasn't surprised when a group of soldiers showed up in the distance, no doubt checking for survivors.

 

Fella, needless to say, was a bit more shocked when the dragon came back.

 

She was even more shocked when the men managed to kill it.

 

When Filion _finally_ showed up, drenched in dark blood that wasn't his, smelling of fire, and saying that they had an audience with the Jarl, she would later joke with friends that she thought someone had slipped her skooma.

 

But nobody had.

 

And Filion had left, with the title of Thane and a housecarl trailing him. Off to fulfill a destiny.

 

Now, Fella was alone in the old house.

 

At first, she was glad for it. She had her peaceful silence.

 

But oh, how she would come to wish he had never went away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this was a short one. Wanted to get it done though.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im back on this bitch ass loser fic,
> 
> uh,   
> Astrid is here now, so we finally have the dark brotherhood in this mess again, shes a bit ooc, but i guess she and arnbjorn want a kid and she finds this random child killing stuff in the forest and decides this one will do
> 
> also uh, theres a couple minor aus at work here, mostly that the holds are way bigger, especially castles/keeps and cities, absolutely massive
> 
> we see dogs more than like eight times in the whole game, theyre common pets, cats too, and sheep.
> 
> basically just stuff that turns skyrim from a video game to a realistic world
> 
> sorry for the sudden first person

I pulled back the bowstring. Breathing through her mouth to keep from making noise.

 

The buck was massive, and strong. It's crown of antlers could impale a girl twice the size of the myself with one sweep, if it attacked. And it could outrun the finest horses Skyrim had to offer, if it fled.

 

I had one shot.

 

I let go of the arrow.

 

It sung true, sinking deep into the beast's throat. It let out a furious wail and stumbled hard, dashing it's knees against the ground before collapsing. The other deer scattered, with their leader fallen.

 

I gave a hasty prayer of thanks to all nine divines, and all seventeen princes. Whichever one had kept me safe, and helped me take my prey, was kind to me that day.

 

I picked up the front of the deer, stumbling under the weight with a curse that Fillion would curl his lip at, no doubt. Good thing he was off doing gods know what.

 

 

"You are good with a bow, for somebody so... Tiny." A voice echoed from a nearby patch of brush. 

My heart began to pound. My mother's warning tales of strangers crowing quietly down my ear, I shook it off. Everybody was a stranger. The man I sold the bits of my hunts I didn't need was a stranger. The woman I had bartered the price of a dog with was a stranger. I was surrounded by strangers. This one was no different.

 

"Thank you, ma'am." I let the deer fall to the ground, turning to face her.

 

The woman was a Nord, wearing the oddest set of black and red armor, and with a hood and cowl that concealed her whole face. I couldn't see a weapon, but nobody went unarmed into the wilds. Right? Maybe it was concealed. People could hide daggers, right?

 

"No, really. How did someone your age... You look to be about fifteen.... Manage to learn how to shoot down a buck?"

I swallowed. "A family friend taught me since I was four, and I'm thirteen."

 

"I suppose doing something since being a toddler will make you good, no?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"And." She added, a smile creeping up into her eyes. "Where is your family now? It doesn't seem wise to let a child hunt alone in the backwoods."

I replied unflinchingly. I had not been close to my mother and father. It was easy to move on. "I am orphaned. My older brother is my legal guardian, but he has been away for quite some time."

 

She made a face, it was hard to tell what the woman was thinking, but I could tell it was not pleasant thoughts.

 

"So he just... Left you?"

 

"Yeah...?"

 

The woman sighed, looking at me with something almost like... Kindness in her eyes. "Well, kid. If you need anything, head down to Falkreath and head up the northern road. There will be... Something. You'll know it when you see it."

 

"Oka-"

 

I swear, I blinked and she was gone. I flinched.

 

"Goodbye then."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw. for assult (non-sexual, only physical) and fantasy racism
> 
> astrid finally adopts fella so good for them

My fingertips kissed the bowstring, letting my arrow fly.

 

The rabbit keeled, and I let out a soft murmur of prayer.

 

Slinging my bow over my back, I strode over to the limp body, crouching down to scoop it by the ears and fasten it to my belt with a set of leather strips.

 

"Hey, elf. You there!"

 

I felt myself hunch over a bit, what was this about? I knew I was in Whiterun, and the Jarl had given me express permission to hunt in his hold. So they couldn't do anything, right?

 

"Yessir?" I averted my eyes, keeping my gaze down at the man's plated boots.

 

"What are you doing here, exactly?"

 

"I'm huntin' sir." Bile rose up into my throat. My chest tightening into a pheasant cage.

 

Stars scattered across my vision, and a shot of pain struck at my cheekbone. I crumpled to the ground.

 

"Dumbass, I can see that! Why are you in Skyrim is what I'm saying. Go back to your fucking forest!"

 

A sharp jab hit me in the chest. Being struck with metal was painful, and couldn't be good. I heard a soft _crack_ as a rib broke. My eyes stung with tears as I curled in on myself to shield my head and neck. He swung back hard and kicked in. I couldn't hold back a scream that time. The Nord took a few steps back for a particularly strong blow. I took my few seconds of a chance and scrambled to my feet. My head felt like my brain was wrapped in cotton. And I could taste blood.

 

My bow had broken, either when I landed on it, or when I got kicked. I wasn't exactly wearing armor. Splinters stuck into my side, blood dripping down into the dirt.

 

He swung at my head with a fist, and it missed by a hair as I skittered to the side, my hand closing on my emergency dagger. I felt the worn leather press into my palm as I drew it, holding it out before me.

 

"Go away." I wheezed, shaking like a leaf and struggling not to fall. I finally dared to look him in the eyes. My father had given me his piercing blue eyes, pure Nord. I hoped that it could get him to leave me alone, knowing I was at least part human. "Or I'll hurt you."

 

"You fucking half-breed! You can't touch me!" Hot mead-breath steamed into my face. He swung back again, for another hit.

 

Some instinct in my head pointed out the fact that he wore no helmet, and that his steel armor reached only his shoulders.

 

I dug my toes into the ground and lunged, slamming the blade into his neck. He choked and doubled back. I slid off his chest and collapsed to the ground. He took a shuddering step backwards before collapsing to the ground with a loud thump. The Nord was making a few pained choking noises, he reached up to his neck and pulled out the dagger.

 

Blood poured out even faster, soaking the grassy tundra soil. I scooched backwards, my head pounded in time with my heart.

 

He stopped moving with a few twitches. I let out a sharp whine, gripping my injured side.

 

"Sithis, kid. You alright?"

 

I looked up, it was the woman from the forest.

 

She crouched down next to me, pressing something into my hand. It was cold and glassy, I took a glance at it. With a shaky hand, I uncorked it and took a whiff.

 

_Healing potion._

 

I downed it in a single go. The bleeding stopped, but my side would still need more delicate care. 

 

"Kid, you killed him?

 

I should have answered 'no', she could have easily ran for the Jarl. But I was delirious with blood loss. "Yes ma'am."

 

"You feel... No remorse?"

 

What kind of question was that? Even in my state, I knew that was an odd question. But, I was still too weak to lie. "No... It's like hunting, ma'am."

 

She clucked her tongue, I could see a smile creeping into her eyes. "My family and I could use having you around, only if you want to? You have the sorts of skills we need. A good shot, silence. It is... Less than legal work. But it is home."

 

Home?

 

What was my home?

 

I had no parents, and my house that I was supposed to share with my brother was empty.

 

I wanted a home.

 

I wanted a family.

 

"I... I will."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoosh time skip,
> 
> our lovely fella is 16 now and gets her first contract
> 
> stab stab
> 
> I'm trying out a new method to show a time skip mid-story

"Astrid?" I peered around the corner, my fingertips bracing against the worn wooden threshold. "You called?"

 

The blonde looked up from her table, grinning like a wolf, a wolf out for blood. "It's time, Fella. Your first set of contracts." Astrid slid a closed envelope across the knife-marked surface. "Go forth, and hail Sithis."

 

 

 **As soon as** I left the sanctuary, I was ripping open my envelope. Giddy with excitement. _My first contract!_ I could hardly wait. To bring my family glory. To make my first coin. But mostly it was just morbid curiosity. I had killed, yes. But it had been three years since my blades last tasted mortal blood. I suppressed a shiver of nerves. I glanced over the yellowed paper, marked with pure black ink.

 

_Narfi, Ivarsteadian Beggar_

 

_Beitild, Dawnstari Miner_

 

_Ennodius Papius, Retired Lumberjack near Anga's Mill_

 

I let out a happy murmur, snapping my fingertips. I cast the simple fire spell Festus had insisted that I memorized. It proved fairly useful at this, just enough of a flame to destroy a piece of paper. Not enough for anything else. And just about the strongest spell I could muster.

 

 

 **"You're pretty out** in the middle of nowhere, aren't you?" I muttered, leaning up against a fence post. The farmer I had confronted jumped.

 

"Iverstead, I mean. It looks kind of lonely." I added, perhaps a bit too hastily.

 

"I guess it is, Miss. What do you need?"

 

I smiled through my hood and cowl. "Just need to know about the types to stay wary of, I'm new around here."

 

 He paused, thinking. I let the silence pool around us.

 

"Everybody out here is pretty nice. I wouldn't worry about Narfi, so don't let his... Eccentricities bother you. He doesn't come near us much anyway, stays on his side of the river."

 

I bared my teeth in a smile. "Thank you, sir. You have been most helpful."

 

He moved to say goodbye, but I had already left. Dipping into the cover of some nearby brush. He peered around curiously for a moment before shrugging and returning to his earlier work. His hoe churning the soil with heavy 'thunks' that easily hid my whispered footsteps. The only bridge to Narfi's home was in the middle of town, and I didn't want to draw attention. I would have to wait until nightfall.

 

 **The sunset painted** the soil an eerie red. Farmers lumbered off to the local inn for a pint, emptying the streets. The only person out and about, was Narfi. Who was idly swinging a pickaxe at the mountain wall.

 

I gripped the tree I had perched upon and shimmied down, careful to avoid noise. The ground was familiar and comforting beneath my feet. And silence was easy to grasp, the howling winds and, growing quickly closer, Narfi's clanking pick. I wove through the houses. Checking around each corner before darting to the next elongating shadow. When I reached the bridge, I dropped to a near crawl. Hiding my small form behind the short walls.

 

I pulled a dagger to my palm.

 

Narfi was oblivious.

 

I drew up behind him, slowly letting myself straighten up, and extending my left arm to the side.

 

I stopped an inch away from him, holding my breath.

 

_One._

 

_Two._

 

_Three-_

 

I wrapped my left arm around him, clamping my hand over his mouth and hauling us both to the ground.

 

He collapsed, with me straddling his chest. He opened his mouth to scream, but I slid my dagger into his chest. Cutting it off. Blood gushed from his mouth as he struggled to breath without choking on it.

 

A year worth spent entirely on anatomy paid off. His heart torn open.

 

I got up, letting his lifeblood spill. I whistled to myself, and dove back into the woods.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhhh i forgot to mention this in a previous chapter but alduin, harkon, and miraak have all been defeated already. fillion killed them while fella was still a child training to be an assassin with the dark brotherhood
> 
> also background lydia/serana because its my otp and yall can fight me, its not prevalent in this chapter of the next few, but it will show up later
> 
> also, tiny headcanon, fillion has literal dragon eyes.

I idly sipped mead, curled into a dark corner of Candlehearth hall. Taking great care to ensure that my dark, woolen cloak was bound tight to conceal my uniform.

 

Nilsine Shatter-shield.

 

I already had the bandit's blood spilled onto stone. But she was part of my contract too. Only a bonus, but still. She was a wealthy noble, and her life at the blade of my family would bring us more fear and more contracts.

 

The Nordic woman was somber, in mourning. She was too out of it to notice her growing threat. It was only a matter of time before she left the inn and walked home. I hoped to jump her in the streets, drag her down an alleyway, and slit her throat. That would be the quietest, most optimal option. No witnesses should be out and about this late at night.

 

I was too fixed on my prey, where she sat by the fireplace, to notice somebody entering Candlehearth. I cursed my incompetence as the man in charge froze and spent a good moment or two staring at me.

 

Three people, all Nords. The first, who was obviously in charge, had the most curious armor. It was pale and plated. Looked like it was crafted from bone. But no bones could be that big. The second was a somewhat average female soldier, who I passed over quickly. And the third was a mage, who, with a quick glance to her eyes, I felt my heart pound. A vampire. I swallowed down, bracing myself.

 

I double checked that my cloak was indeed covering my armor, that they had no way of knowing that I was a killer for hire. And frantically thought over _why_ they were bothering me. Nilsine was preparing to leave. I cursed under my breath. I had to get them off my back and hunt her down. Fast.

 

I took a deep breath, and slipped on a cold persona.

 

"What do you want?" I snapped, jerking my head around to face them, half-rising from my chair. One of the many small blades I kept hidden on my person in my palm, though not quite visible, as it was mostly covered by my cloak's heavy sleeve. I glared straight into his eyes. His amber, slit-pupil, familiar eyes.

 

_Oh shit._

 

"Fella?" Fillion looked shocked, shocked to see me here, shocked that I was alive, shocked that I was acting so aggressive, I don't know which. Probably some combination of all three.

 

"Long time no see." I drawled, setting my tankard down on a nearby table. Nilsine was gone. I had to get her now.

 

"Where have you been?" He took a few steps forwards, reaching out. "I thought you were dead, Fella. You just- disappeared. You've been gone for over three years."

 

I took a few steps to the side, shying around them. "It was great seeing you again, I assure you, but it's time for me to go."

 

"Wait, Fella!" Filion reached out to grab at my shoulder but I ducked out of the way and skittered down the stairs, and out the door.

 

I breathed heavily through the thick snow, which was practically brought to a blizzard, turning to run in the direction of the Valunstrand quarter. The wind blew the snow even, covering any tracks. Which was both a blessing- Fillion and his friends couldn't follow me- but also a curse. I couldn't find Nilsine.

 

I spotted a shape curled in itself, a heavy sable cloak that covered it's whole body, a pale blue dress barely showing. There she was. And, better yet, there was a nearby gap between two stone buildings that my target was walking in the general direction of. Close enough to haul a struggling human in before dealing a killing blow. The dagger dropped to my fingertips as I closed the gap between the two of us. She paused and turned, feeling a presence from the lack of wind at her back.

 

My arms snaked around her, dagger held to her throat, and hand muffling her cries. She kicked at my ankles, trying and failing to scream and escape my grip. My dagger bit her skin and cut in. Blood splattering scarlet onto the snow, she became focused enough on her injury for me to safely drag her into cover. I pulled the dagger from her neck, letting the lifeblood be released. I only had to pin her for a few seconds before she collapsed from blood loss. I crouched to take a handful of clean snow, to wipe off my weapon.

 

I heard people coming, I cursed. Sliding my dagger away and starting to move backwards, eyeing the nearby buildings. I narrowed my eyes at a windowsill, I could jump to that, then crawl up the cobblestones. Then haul myself up top and escape across the rooftops. It wouldn't be too hard.

 

I pulled my cowl up over my nose and shrugged off the cloak, it would only get in the way. I had to move fast. I shivered against the biting cold.

 

Somebody skid to a stop at the alleyway, they shouted loudly. A woman's voice. I lunged for the windowsill, and felt one of my hands slip off, clutching on with only the right. My left hand slid across the smooth stone, bracing myself to haul myself up higher. Snatching for the cobblework. I took a deep breath and pushed up from the sill, scaling the wall as quickly as I dared. I heard the dangerous hiss of a paralysis spell and waited before pushing off the wall and to the side, barely able to seize on again before the spell crashed into the wall right next to me.

 

Keep climbing.

 

I finally was able to seize the roof and dragged myself up, I paused for a heartbeat to look down at the people who had seen my crime.

 

Three people, all Nords. A vampire, a soldier, and a man in bone armor.

 

I cursed under my breath and started to run.

 

The end of the roof neared and I jumped. Landing on the next. I could hear shouting, some guards must have seen me. They could recognize the armor. I cursed again and sped up.

 

I hopped the roofs again, then the next. Then the next. I skidded down to the gray quarter, where all the slums were connected, it was easier running here. But I was getting closer to the wall. I hissed between my teeth and scaled up to to the highest roof and jumped to the wall, and even then I still had a climb to do.

 

One hand over another, one foot over another. Higher and higher still. I finally found myself at the top. I didn't look back as I jumped into the icy waters, glad that the current was too strong for ice to freeze over before I went under.


End file.
